Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Under the gun, but the floors are done

Almost a week passed without anything to show for all of our work. Brendon and Marty went back and forth to Home Depot and Nu Casa (flooring place) more that 15 times between Monday and Friday yet the boys weren't able to really put hammer to nail until late Friday evening. (n.b. To all the neighbours - we are so sorry for the noisy weekend. We owe you all two nights of good sleep and several boxes of cookies.) This kind of a delay began to get very stressful because according to my schedule, we were already a week behind.

The lesson that is becoming increasingly clear to us is that 'doing' is the easiest part. It's all of the research, decisions and preparation that need to be made pre-project that take all of the time. And then when you think you've made an informed decision, you're thrown a road block that forces you to rethink everything. Here's a little peak into our deliberations over the last week.

1. Should the floor be glued or floated?
2. The wax paper we bought to put under the floor wasn't strong enough. Need to return it. Can't find receipt.
3. The joists under the floor don't all run in one direction and as a result the flooring can't be laid perpendicular to the supports. This may cause some movement in the future. [sigh] We'll just have to take our chances.
4. A nail gun Brendon's dad bought isn't the right tool for the job.
5. Where do we rent a Bostich nail gun?
6. Who can lend us a table saw and a mitre saw?
7. We've run out of finishing nails.
8. The shop vacuum just blew up.
9. What to we do with the vent opening?
10. AND what the heck are we going to do with the stairs...

We haven't yet solved the problem of the stairs. That will definitly be a post unto itself. That said, the floors are in and boy oh boys do they look beautiful!

Take a look at our video!

(Need a reminder on how we came about these floors in the first place? Check out this post back in October.)